Please read the following with the understanding that it’s written by a regular person, someone who is not preaching at you, someone who is definitely not perfect. I humbly submit it fully understanding that not everyone will agree with it, indeed some may be hostile to it. All I ask, as I do with any of my art, is to approach it with an open mind. It’s good for art to challenge our presuppositions, right?

The first released version of ‘To The Place Where The Streams Flow’ can be found on my debut twin EP set; ‘My Splendour Has Become My Ruin’/‘My Ruin Has Become My Splendour.’

This new release includes two further versions; the first is a reworking, the second is my original demo.

The Redux version is almost a new track really; I was really inspired after watching a documentary about Chernobyl, and particularly the Duga Radar (popularly known as “The Russian Woodpecker”). I’m fascinated not only by the sounds it made, but also the aesthetic; this massive metal structure, rising out of the forest that Chernobyl has become, and the juxtaposition of this huge, imposing relic of the Cold War, with the beauty of the wild reclaiming the abandoned town. What this thing was originally used for is none of my business, but when I heard the sound sample, I just heard music. I haven’t used any samples, rather this is my attempt to recreate those sounds.

The original piece was also inspired by seeming contradiction; beauty from what originally appeared to be tragedy; the streams of blood and water that flowed from the side of Jesus at His crucifixion, as the Roman Centurion pierced Him with his spear to check if He was really dead. The blood and the water that symbolised the cleansing that His substitutionary atonement provided.

The tracks “To The Place Where The Streams Flow” and “WindHymn” are the climax of “My Splendour Has Become My Ruin”/“My Ruin Has Become My Splendour” so I’ll briefly explain the concept behind those twin EPs here:

It’s the journey of someone who is comfortable in their own self-righteousness, (They Swim In Honey), who when confronted with the reality of a Holy God, realises they had built their life on a foundation of sand (Sand); for the first time in their life, they truly see themselves as they really are...their own sinfulness causes them to unravel mentally as well as spiritually (Disintegrate).

‘Disintegrate’ closes “My Splendour Has Become My Ruin” and it is my personal favourite track, which might sound strange, because we’ve reached crisis point...it’s the soundtrack to a mind collapsing in on itself...a person realising they should rightfully be consigned to eternity in Hell, because they have offended a Holy God...and they fall apart. Why would this be my favourite? Because it’s inspired by my state of mind when I came to the end of myself, and threw myself on God’s mercy. It certainly wasn’t pleasant at the time to be confronted with the truth of who I really am, but that was the point that I finally understood the amazing news of the Gospel; that is that I, you, we, have offended a Holy God, BUT He loves us despite our rebellion against Him, and He has done everything to save us, even though He could’ve just left us in our mess.

The story continues on “My Ruin Has Become My Splendour” where the person is regenerated; “Born from above”; (Being Born); they see for the first time that although they can do nothing to make themselves good enough for God, there was One Who lived the perfect life that God requires, the life we cannot live, and this same One bore their sin in His Own Person, died the death that they should have died, but three days later walked out of the tomb, proving that not only was He God, but that He had defeated death, and provided not only the cleansing for sin (To The Place Where The Streams Flow) but also provided the free gift of the perfect righteousness that God requires.

Finally, indwelt by the Spirit of God, they realise that yes, in and of themselves, they are totally helpless and unable to please God, but the good news is that God loves us, and we have a perfect Substitute, the One Who is Himself God Incarnate; Jesus Christ.

The climax is the hymn of praise, animated by the Holy Spirit; bringing what was dead in sin to everlasting life (WindHymn).

Like I said, this isn’t written by someone who thinks they’re a good person; this is written by someone who is a perennial outsider; the guy who was bullied all through school; the guy many people think is a bit...weird...an introverted person who finds it hard to socialise, and is happier with his music and books than being in the company of most people. You could say I’m a screw-up, a loser, someone who doesn’t have much, if anything, to offer. And you’d be correct. But I’m a screw-up that the Son of God chose to die on a cross for...and that just blows my mind.

Like many people, I’ve been to dark places in my mind and soul...I know what it’s like to suffer depression and anxiety; I’ve struggled with that most of my life, but I’ll tell you, it’s only because of Christ that I’m still here to write this.